The present invention relates to a digital audio/video (A/V) apparatus, and more particularly, to a multi-media system in which a plurality of digital A/V apparatuses are connected to each other via a digital interface.
In a digital A/V apparatus, a device can be controlled by other devices, which could not be achieved in a conventional analog A/V apparatus. As an example, the High-Definition-Digital Video Cassette Recorder (HD-DVCR) Conference defines a command set which is called AV/C CTS (Audio/Video Control Command and Transaction Set) so that an operation command from a remote controller is transferred to a target control device (called xe2x80x9clocal devicexe2x80x9d) via the IEEE 1394 serial bus. Here, the IEEE 1394 serial bus operates according to a standard related to high-speed data transfer, which is defined by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The IEEE 1394 serial bus is used as an interface for connecting each device of a digital multi-media system, having an isochronous transfer mode and an asynchronous transfer mode. Here, A/V data is transferred in real time using the isochronous transfer mode, and transactions required for communication, including read, write and lock, are transferred in an asynchronous pattern using the asynchronous transfer mode. Also, control commands such as AV/C CTS are transferred in an asynchronous pattern using the asynchronous transfer mode.
However, the contents defined by AV/C CTS includes commands relating to a direct/indirect user""s input button, but commands relating to all operations are not completed yet, and are still being updated. Also, commands related to the transfer of information which is not noticed by a user, or the notice of which is not necessary, are not yet provided. Thus, it is difficult to achieve a single common remote control for all devices.
On the other hand, according to the articles entitled xe2x80x9cSpecification of Consumer-Use Digital VCRs using 6.3 mm magnetic tapes-Part 8: ATV Specifications of Consumer-Use Digital VCRxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cSpecification of Digital Interface for Consumer Electronic Audio/Video Equipment-Parts 1 and 4xe2x80x9d, which are published by the HD-DVCR Conference, it is prescribed that an advanced television (ATV) signal having MPEG2-TS (Moving Picture Experts Group 2-Transport Stream) which is transferred using the IEEE 1394 can be recorded by an HD-VCR using 6.3 mm magnetic tape. Particularly, it is prescribed to transfer the MPEG2-TS using the isochronous transfer mode of the IEEE 1394 while having a common format, i.e., common isochronous packet (CIP) header structure as in the case of a digital video cassette (DVC) called a camcorder. Here, the AV/C CTS is adopted as a control command. Also, the MPEG2 is roughly classified into one of three: MPEG2-system, MPEG2-video and MPEG2-audio. A transport stream (TS) and a program stream (PS) are defined as a transfer standard in the MPEG2-system.
FIG. 1 shows a typical example of data transfer between the ATV and HD-VCR. According to the definition by xe2x80x9cBlue Bookxe2x80x9d, published by the HD-DVCR Conference, including articles entitled xe2x80x9cSpecification of Consumer-Use Digital VCRs Using 6.3 mm Magnetic Tapesxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cSpecification of Digital Interface for Consumer Electronic Audio/Video Equipmentxe2x80x9d, and xe2x80x9cSpecifications of AV/C Command and Transaction Set for Digital Interfacexe2x80x9d, A/V data transferred from an ATV 10 to HD-VCR 20 which are connected by an IEEE 1394 cable 30 during a recording mode, is a multi-program MPEG2-TS, and data transferred from the HD-VCR 20 to the ATV 10 during a playback mode is a single program MPEG2-TS. Here, the term ATV refers to the American high definition television (HDTV) suggested by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC). Also, the AV/C CTS suggested in the Blue Book defines control commands with respect to VCR sub-devices, most of which relate to mechanical operation.
For example, commands from a remote controller 11 for the ATV 10, such as fast-forward and rewind, can be transferred to the HD-VCR 20 via the IEEE 1394 serial bus. However, control commands to the VCR sub-devices do not include commands for transferring information related to an MPEG2 system layer, e.g., program number.
Thus, the MPEG2-TS is transferred from the ATV 10 to the HD-VCR 20 during the recording mode. Here, the HD-VCR 20 should receive information required for parsing the MPEG2-TS being transferred from the ATV 10, from a user using a remote controller 21 for HD-VCR 20.
Also, the recorded single program MPEG2-TS is transferred from the HD-VCR 20 to the ATV 10 during the playback mode. Here, a program number recorded in a video auxiliary (VAUX) region should be transferred from the HD-VCR 20 to the ATV. Additionally, it is prescribed in the Blue Book to record the program number in the VAUX region of a tape.
However, the multi-media system of FIG. 1 requires a separate remote controller for each device connected to the ATV. That is, when a plurality of devices, being capable of recording/reproducing a received signal, are connected to the ATV, there is an inconvenience in that an operational command should be input to each recording/reproducing device by the user, using a different remote controller for each device.
Also, when selecting a program by parsing a program guide information (PG) for the MPEG2-TS in the multi-media system shown in FIG. 1, the HD-VCR 20 should first parse the program guide information in the multi-program MPEG2-TS transferred from the ATV. In order to display the parsed program guide information on an on-screen graphic (OSG) display, the OSG of the program guide information is transferred to the ATV 10 by being MPEG2-TS encoded since there is no OSG transfer standard in the IEEE 1394. Then, a user can input a program number corresponding to an intended program, using an up/down key of the remote controller 21 for the HD-VCR while viewing the OSG displayed on the ATV 10. Thus, this multi-media system requires an extra encoding circuit in the HD-VCR 20, for MPEG2-TS encoding the OSG, and the ability to parse the program guide information from MPEG2-TS in order to constitute the OSG. Also, the generation of the OSG is dependent on the VCR manufacturer, so it is difficult to provide the same OSG consistently. Although the ATV parses the program guide information in transferred MPEG2-TS and displays the parsed program guide information on an OSG display, and a user inputs a program number using the remote controller 11 for the ATV, the program number can be transferred to the HD-VCR 20, since no command is defined for transferring the program number to the HD-VCR 20.
To solve the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a multi-media system which can be integrally controlled by one input device, by transferring to a recording/reproducing device only the transport stream of an intended single program, from among the transport stream of a multi-program received by a receiver.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a multi-media system for transferring a single program transport stream corresponding to an input program number to a recording/reproducing device, after a receiver parses program guide information in the MPEG2-TS and displays the parsed program guide information on an on-screen graphic (OSG) display.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method for transferring only the transport stream of an intended single program, from among the transport stream of a multi-program received.
To achieve the first and second objects, there is provided a multi-media system for transferring a single program transport stream comprising an input device, a receiver and a recording/reproducing device. The input device inputs a program number of an intended program, and the receiver having a first digital interface extracts a transport stream of a program corresponding to the program number from the received transport stream, and transfers the extracted transport stream as a single program transport stream together with a corrected program association table (PAT) including the program number and the program information corresponding thereto. Also, the recording/reproducing device having a second digital interface records the single program transport stream transferred from the receiver via the second digital interface, and reproduces the recorded single program transport stream, and transfers the reproduced single program transport stream to the receiver via the first digital interface. Here, the receiver may further comprise a program guide parser for parsing program guide information from the received transport stream, and an on-screen graphic (OSG) generator for displaying the parsed program guide information on an OSG display.
To achieve the third object, there is provided a method for transferring a transport stream from a receiver with a digital interface for receiving a transport stream to a recording/reproducing device with a digital interface for recording/reproducing a transport stream, the method comprising the steps of inputting a program number of an intended program to be recorded. Then, a program association table (PAT) from the received transport stream is corrected to output a corrected PAT including a program number corresponding to the input program number and program information corresponding to the program number, and then a transport stream corresponding to the input program number is extracted from the received transport stream, and transferred the extracted transport stream, as a single program transport stream together with the corrected PAT, to the recording/reproducing device.